Kansas Jayhawks basketball great Danny Manning hired by team returning to Big 12

Former University of Kansas men’s basketball great Danny Manning, most recently an assistant coach at Louisville, has been hired as an assistant coach at Colorado, Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle announced Tuesday.

Manning, who replaces Rick Ray on Boyle’s CU staff, was a teammate of Boyle’s at KU in 1984-85. Manning will begin his duties in Boulder, Colorado on June 1.

“I’m very excited to join coach Boyle’s staff,” Manning said Tuesday. “This staff has been together for quite some time and has had quite a bit of success, so I want to come in and be a sponge, learn from them, the things they’ve been doing to be successful and just try and add little nuggets that I can along the way, in terms of my experience as a player and a coach.

“I’d like to thank (athletic director) Rick George and the administration for giving me this opportunity. I’m looking forward to being part of the Buffalo culture and can’t wait to get to Boulder.”

Manning, 57, played in the NBA for 15 years after leading KU to the 1988 NCAA title. And he has extensive coaching experience.

He spent two seasons as the associate head coach at Louisville (2022-24). He was head coach for two seasons at Tulsa (2012-14) and six at Wake Forest (2014-20). For a portion of the 2021-22 campaign, he was interim head coach at Maryland, where he started as an assistant before taking over for former KU teammate Mark Turgeon, who stepped down mid-season.

“He’s going to help us on a lot of different levels,” Boyle said. “Danny brings the ability to connect with young people, being able to mentor them and let them know what they need to do to get better.

“But (he) also (shows them) what they need to do to achieve their ultimate goal, which is to be a professional basketball player, which a lot of our players aspire to be. His ability to recruit and connect with families is there as well.”

Manning began his coaching career at KU. He was part of Bill Self’s original coaching staff in 2003 as the director of student-athlete development/team manager.

He was elevated to assistant coach in 2007, helping the Jayhawks to the 2008 NCAA championship. Manning remained in Lawrence through the 2011-12 season, helping Kansas land a spot in the 2012 Final Four and advance to the championship game. He then became head coach at Tulsa.

Manning was the 1988 NCAA Final Four’s most outstanding player and was recognized as a consensus national player of the year in 1988. He was also a two-time All-American (1987, 88) and three-time Big Eight Conference player of the year (1986-88).

Manning, whose No. 25 jersey at Kansas is retired, is the program’s all-time leader in points (2,951) and rebounds (1,187). He was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Manning and Boyle were teammates at Kansas in 1984-85 when Boyle was a senior and Manning a freshman. The former teammates were assistant coaches for USA Basketball’s 2017 U19 World Cup team.

“Coach Manning and I go back a long way in terms of our relationship as players back in 1985 when we were teammates at Kansas,” Boyle said. “Obviously we know each other from those days, but having a guy like Danny on staff with his accomplishments as a player – 15 years in the NBA, the No. 1 draft pick in 1988 – as well as his numerous coaching stops at the Division I level where he’s been extremely successful. I’m excited to add him to the staff. He’s not only a great coach, but he’s a great human being and he’s going to do nothing but help Colorado basketball.”

The first pick of the 1988 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers, Manning had a 15-year NBA career, playing for seven different teams. He was a two-time NBA All-Star and won the league’s Sixth Man of the Year Award with the Phoenix Suns in 1998.

He averaged 14.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 51.1 percent from the field over 883 career games.

Colorado, a former member of the Big 12, returns to the conference for the 2024-25 season after several years in the Pac-12.